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It’s the International Day of the Girl but girls’ rights are falling through the cracks in Scotland 

The Scottish government works to enshrine the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into law. Concern grows as violence increases in schools and attendance diminishes. The cost-of-living crisis puts more children in poverty.  

Scotland is experiencing a cultural shift around children’s rights, but girls are being left behind. 

Girls in Scotland are at risk of violence, harassment, and mental illness, feel less safe in public spaces, and are less able to take part in sport and play. Despite this, little of the emerging legislation, policy, and practice designed to progress children’s rights considers girls. Girls’ rights are falling down the cracks between legislation for children and legislation for women.  

That’s why, this International Day of the Girl, we’re shouting that #GirlsRights are human rights! 

 

Girls' lives in Scotland 

Violence, harm, and abuse 

A range of research in both Scotland and the wider UK show that girls do not feel safe at school, in public, or online. Many girls are experiencing harassment, sexual assault, rape, domestic abuse, FGM, and online harm. This is more likely for girls of colour, disabled girls and LGBT+ girls. 

Education 

A lot of coverage of children’s access to education focusses on the gender attainment gap and underperforming boys. But girls also have issues accessing education due to experiencing violence, misogyny, and sexism; gender segregation in subjects; gender stereotypical views held by teachers; and gendered school uniform policies. We are still waiting to see whether the Scottish Government’s education reform process will tackle gender inequality in schools.  

Play 

Gender stereotypes about what kind of play is allowed for girls, about the need to stay clean, and which force girls to take on more responsibilities at home than boys, all prevent girls’ equal access to their right to play. This is compounded by parks being designed with boys’ needs in mind, feeling unsafe playing out in public spaces, less access to sport, and exclusion by boys.  

Health, mental health and reproductive healthcare 

15 years of research by Girlguiding shows that girls’ mental health is getting worse. More girls, and younger girls, are unhappy, anxious, and depressed. A 2022 survey of 14-year-olds found girls were more likely than boys to say they had felt depressed, felt down on themselves, thought about death a lot, had hurt themselves on purpose, were ‘not very happy’ with how they looked. Despite this, girls are not being given specific attention in approaches to mental health. They face barriers to accessing healthcare, especially if they are neurodivergent, have caring responsibilities, or are trans. Barriers increase when accessing reproductive healthcare, an important part of a girl’s right to choice and bodily autonomy.  

 

UNCRC and CEDAW 

Human rights are universal. They apply equally to everyone. But accessing these rights can be impacted by different things for different people. To make sure everyone’s rights are met, there are extra conventions which give certain groups extra protection. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) are two examples of this. Within policy, we often view them as ‘sister conventions’ that work together to advance women’s and girls’ rights.  

But this isn’t what we’ve seen in practice. Work often focusses either on improving the world for women or for children, failing to consider how age can change a woman’s needs or gender can change a child’s. Girls, and their unique experiences, become invisible, their needs forgotten.  

 

Human rights in Scotland 

The Scottish Parliament has committed to incorporating UNCRC into Scots Law. The Scottish Government is currently consulting on the Human Rights Bill, which seeks to incorporate CEDAW alongside other treaties. This all aims to create a ‘human rights culture’ in Scotland.  

However, so far, the Scottish Government’s approach to incorporating and implementing UNCRC has failed to consider the unique needs of girls. For example, the minutes of the UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board (SIB)’s only mentioned gender twice and only in relation to how the gender recognition act may affect the bills’ progress and children’s rights budgeting.  

Whilst the board consulted women’s organisations during the bill’s progression through parliament, no organisations advocating specifically for girls attended these SIB meetings.  

The Human Rights Bill consultation paper suggests that the approach to CEDAW will be age neutral. This replicates international patterns and leaves girls’ rights in Scotland at risk of falling between the cracks in policy. 

 

Impact on Girls in Scotland 

Implementing rights is not a case of ‘one size fits all’. Previous approaches to children’s rights have failed to consider how gender shapes children’s experiences and so girls’ rights are not being realised in Scotland. Without Scottish policies which recognise how gender and age affect people’s needs, this pattern will continue.  

Girls’ rights are human rights, and we need effective policy to ensure they’re upheld. This International Day of the Girl, we call upon the Scottish Government to include girls as they build a human rights culture in Scotland.